Muggle
by Good cyberman
Summary: Draco is forced to live as a muggle for at least five years instead of Azkaban thanks to the input of the golden trio. But will it be so bad when Hermione is assigned his case for her internship at the Ministry? EWE
1. Chapter 1

The court room was dark and cold, as if the world was in greyscale, despite the lack of dementors. It was as if the world was trying to tell him something, as if the fates had already aligned and this was just a formality. He sat in the chair, chains pulled tight around his wrists and ankles, and waited for the result.

"Draco Malfoy, you were charged with being a Death Eater, severe war crimes and conspiring to murder and you are sentenced to a life without magic."

These words hit him harder than a flying bludger but he was unable to dwell on the news, he needed to pay attention to what was said next.

"You will be allowed a re-trial in 5 years to see if you are reformed enough to be gradually

re-integrated into wizarding life but if you fail then you will not get another chance, do you understand Mr Malfoy?" The man asked

"Yes," Draco responded, his voice weak and feeble, his sentence finally sinking in.0

"We will keep you in the holding cells for the next few days while we assign you a flat and a correction official, who will check in on you and help you within muggle life. You are recommended to find a job although we will be giving you an allowance in muggle money from your family's account with Gringotts. In the next few days you will be supplied with all of your muggle documents and some clothes, although you may want to go to buy more one you are situated in your flat. We will supply you with information packs this afternoon, but for now you are free to speak with your friends for an hour or so in the waiting room before you go back to your cell." The official finished, waving his wand for his chains to be released and motioning towards a door to his left.

Draco stood, shakily, and left the court room, still struggling to comprehend the enormous change that had just crashed into his life.

The waiting room was in complete contrast to court room, it was warm and bright, filled with pieces of art and books. Who was in the room, however, made it not so nice. Sat on one of the sofas that lined the room, was the Golden Trio.

"Malfoy," Harry spoke first, standing up and stretching out his hand, Draco took it before sitting on the sofa opposite.

"Potter, Granger, Weasley." He nodded in response, "I have to say I truly am sorry for what happened and what I did. Especially you, Granger, I said some unforgivable things and then what my aunt did," at this he noted the look of horror that flashed momentarily across her face, "I… I wanted to help so much but I just… I couldn't and for that I truly am sorry." Draco paused taking a deep breathe but before he could continue Hermione interrupted him.

"Look, Malfoy, we know you're sorry, and we understand why you did what you did. That's why we're here. We gave our testimonies to help your case, we wanted to know if it did help. Some of the council members were dead set on giving you the dementor's kiss and the others wanted you to rot in Azkaban for the rest of your days, what was it?" Hermione asked.

"Well, neither of those luckily," Draco smiled, "I got life without magic, but they are going to give me a trial in 5 years to see if I can be slowly eased back into wizarding life."

"Oh, thank God!" Hermione exclaimed, the others looking just as relieved, at Draco's confused face she continued, "Malfoy, no matter how many terrible things you did, it wasn't your fault. And no one who shows remorse, such as you do, deserves to lose their soul no matter how quickly it is taken from you"

"I guess I owe you guys a thank you, so thank you and please, call me Draco. Malfoy is my father and I have no desire to be anything like that empty shell of a man." Draco responded, his eyes flashing with anger.

"Okay, Draco. I have some news you might welcome then, Lucius," Harry spat, "has been given the dementors kiss. And I am so sorry to hear about your mother's death, she saved my life and I am ever in gratitude for that."

"Thank-you, Potter," Draco began,

"Harry, please. Oh, and call these by their names too." Harry asked.

"Right, well thankyou and I hope that if I am ever back in this world, you guys will still talk to me."

"Of course, I for one, believe in second chance. I may seem hot headed to some, but I don't right people off from prior events." Ron replied, sincerely.

"Oh, only cats is it Ron?" Hermione replied, harshly, but she began laughing at Ron's terrified expression, as did the others.

They were interrupted a few minutes later by a guard crashing in through the door.

"I swear those guys have as much grace as Grawp while concussed." Ron muttered under his breath.

"Malfoy, times up. Let's Go. Mr Potter, Weasley, Miss Granger" The guard nodded as he motioned for Draco to go through the door.

His cell was simple. 4 walls, a locked door with a small hatch for when the guards did their count and small bed, only just big enough for him to fit, with a blanket that looked itchier than Ron's dress robes. In the right corner there was a desk and chair while on the other side there was a small shower curtain, hiding the small toilette, sink and shower. Draco was sure that the ministry wouldn't have to bother finding him flat because he would soon die of boredom from spending more than a few hours in this room.

He was lying on the bed an hour or so later when there was a knock on his cell door.

"I'd open the door, but I'm fairly sure that's your job." Draco shouted to whatever imbecilic guard that stood on the other side.

At the light, feminine laugh, however, he swung is legs off the side of the bed and proceeded to the door.

"You don't sound much like a guard" Draco said curiously to the person on the other side of the door.

"That would be because I'm not Draco, and I knocked in case you were in decent, I presume that you aren't?" The voice of Hermione Granger replied to him.

"Oh, uh, right, well yes I am fully clothed, if you can call this rubbish clothing. Do come in Hermione," Draco replied as he stepped back from the door to allow Hermione entry.

She opened the door and slowly headed in to the cell.

"Not that I'm not glad to have company," Draco began, "But what exactly are you doing still here?"

"Oh, well, I work here at the ministry 2 days a week. The others I go to Hogwarts to finish my NEWT subjects, its like an apprenticeship. And I thought you'd go crazy if you were stuck in here with nothing to do, so I brought you a few books to read and some paper and a pencil so that you could do some writing or drawing or whatever." Hermione explained, setting the items down on his small desk.

"Thankyou," Draco said sincerely, "I honestly thought I'd die if I were stuck in here for days with nothing to do." Draco finished, smiling slightly.

"Oh, and about the days thing, I may be able to get you moved out of here by tomorrow."

"That would be fantastic, Hermione, but how on earth would you even start to make that happen? I know you're the smartest witch of your age, but I really don't think the backwards old ministry officials will let you swing this." Draco replied.

"Well, you would think that, but it turns out I work in the muggle relations department, which is the department which deals with this whole business. And it turns out they already have anything ready for you, they just are waiting around, probably to make you stay in a cell for as long as possible because they want some form of sordid revenge. So be ready to leave by dawn tomorrow and I'll help you get settled in."

"Thankyou. Really, I mean it."

"Consider it a thank you for stalling at Malfoy Manor, it saved our lives, so I guess I owe you. Anyway, I better get going, my break finished 5 minutes ago, I'll see you tomorrow 6 AM sharp."

"Goodbye Hermione." Draco shouted as she shut his door.

By lights out, Draco had made it through the three books Hermione had given him, there was one novel, one play and one book about modern Britain and the cultures and technology that existed. Draco was very grateful for the last one as, while reading it, he had had a mini panic attack about the fact he had no idea at all about the world he was about to be forced into.

It was around 5:30 in the morning when Draco awoke, desperate to get out of his cell as soon as possible. He showered and got ready, sitting back down on the bed to wait for Hermione's arrival.

"Malfoy," a gruff voice shouted, "You're out, lets go," he finished, opening the cell door and glaring at Draco.

Without responding, Draco went over and picked up his things including the books Hermione had lent him and exited the cell.

He was lead down a dingy corridor which housed the holding cells and taken into a lift, all the time with the guard's arm on his shoulder and wand in his back. They went up for quite a time, past the atrium and up through other departments. Draco assumed they were going to the muggle relations department, which Hermione had mentioned yesterday.

He was right, the lift announced the floor and they exited the lift, the guard guiding him over to a desk in the far corner.

"Miss Granger," The guard said, releasing Draco although inconspicuously keeping his wand trained on him.

"Oh, thank you," Hermione began, pausing to search for the guard's name tag, "Smithson, I can assure you he is in safe hands now, you may go back to your own department."

"As you wish, Miss." The guard spoke, politely, before heading back to the lift.

"Draco, good morning, sorry about the whole guard thing, I tried to convince them to let me come and get you on my own, but they said it would be a 'breach of protocol'" She finished, doing quotation marks in the air with her hands.

"That's ok, really. I'm just glad to be out from those four walls." Draco said, chuckling lightly, wringing out his hands in front of him.

"Yes, well, out of those walls and into some more I'm afraid. The flat they've assigned you is rather small and plain, but we can soon sort that out." Hermione replied.

"We?" Draco questioned.

"Well, I thought I could help you get settled, after yesterday, and I guess you don't know any one else… I mean if you don't-" Hermione rambled, but Draco interrupted.

"No, of course I'd love for you to help, I just didn't think you'd want to."

"Oh, well of course I meant it, Draco, you were very polite yesterday and I think everyone deserves a second chance. Plus, it'd be good to have you as a friend as you were the only one who ever came close to beating me in school." Hemione smiled and Draco laughed.

"Well, I suppose I could do with some help learning about muggle things."

"Exactly, so, shall we go find your new home?"

"Yeah, lets go. Um, do you have an exit up here, it's just I don't really fancy going out the main way with all the people."

"Oh yeah we do, I planned to use the floo in my boss' office to go back to my flat, which is already in muggle London, so you won't have to go through any wizarding areas."

"That's great, let's go." Draco said as they went into the office and over to the fireplace.

When they arrived at Hemione's flat, she grabbed her muggle purse, explaining that they would be using muggle public transport, and her beaded bag, which contained all of Draco's paper work and a few other bits she thought might be useful in Draco's new flat.

They left her flat and walked to Hermione's nearest underground station, Draco was still coming to grips with the idea of a train underground and Hermione was grinning at his confused ramblings and face.

After their short train ride, they got off and walked the short distance to Draco's building. They didn't talk much as he was trying to memorise the route for future reference.

Hermione lead Draco up the stairs of the building to the top floor.

"Why on earth, did the Ministry think it'd be a good idea to buy flats on the top floor?" Draco panted as they reached the landing on the top floor.

"They're the ones that're free because muggles don't really want all of the stairs when moving in. Especially as the lift is almost always out of order." Hermione answered.

"Couldn't you just, you know, magic it back."

"I'm afraid not, that's the whole point of your sentence, to live like a muggle, they can't just magic it back."

"Right, I guess that makes sense. Have you got the key then?" Draco asked, walking closer to his door, number 17.

"Yep, here you are," She said giving Draco the key, "the big one is for the front door, the little one for the balcony door." She explained, and Draco opened the door, letting them in to what would be his home for at least the next five years.

It was small, as Hermione had said, the door opened into one room which held the kitchen and living room, the sofa to the left of the door, facing a TV with a small coffee table in between them and a matching arm chair against the front wall. The kitchen was directly in front of the door and began a few feet down from the sofa allowing a small hall way where there were coat hooks and a shelf. The kitchen was small with a counter which was the dining area. Then off to the left was the only bedroom, which had a double bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers, mirror and night stand next to the bed. On the back wall there was a patio door which lead out to the small balcony which had a small bench and table and over looked the flat's garden. Next to the bedroom there was a bathroom, with a bath, shower, toilet and sink.

After exploring the flat, Draco headed back out to find Hermione in the kitchen.

"Hey, I thought I would show you what some of these things do, seeing as we don't have them in the wizarding world." Hermione began, gesturing to the appliances around her.

"Yeah, that would be great, I recognise a few from that book you gave me yesterday." Draco replied, with a smile.

"Right so this is a fridge-freezer. The top compartment is the fridge, and this keeps food cold, so it doesn't go off. Then the bottom part is the freezer, now this freezes food, so you can keep it for longer and you can store already frozen food which you can buy in it." Hermione explained simply.

"Right, that makes sense."

"Yeah, this," She said pointing to the kettle, "is a kettle for boiling water to make tea or coffee or whatever, it doesn't need to be put on the stove like in the wizarding world, you just flip the switch. Then there's the microwave, this is just a way of cooking food but quicker or heating up old food, if you can microwave food it'll tell you on the packet and will give you a time which you just select using the buttons."

"That sounds simple," Draco replied, inspecting the microwave.

"Then there's the oven and stove but I'm sure you know how to use them from the wizarding world."

"Yeah, I used to make cookies with my mum when I was younger." He smiled at the memories.

Hermione then went on to explain how to use the washing machine and the TV, which Draco thought was the best thing ever.

"Do you want to go out shopping, I don't think you have many clothes and you don't have any food in or anything really." Hermione asked, after she had explained everything in the flat.

"Yeah, that would be great, I didn't eat this morning so the sooner I can practice my muggle cooking the better." Draco chuckled, grabbing his jacket off the hook and picking up his keys from the shelf.

They walked back to the street and along to a bus stop.

"Why aren't we using the underground thingy again?" Draco asked Hemione as they waited under the shelter.

"Because we are on the very edge of London here so there aren't as many tube stations so it's easier if we take the bus because it takes us straight to the shopping centre." Hermione answered.

"Ok, and I hope you have my allowance or whatever it is the Ministry are meant to give me every month because I have no money." Draco replied.

"I do yes, along with your ID and other paper work so if you want to buy anything like knives or alcohol you can. This is our bus, come on let's go."

After a fairly short bus journey, they arrived at the shopping centre.

"Right, I think we should start with clothes and home stuff, then get the groceries before we leave." Hermione suggested as they entered the centre.

"That sounds like a plan," Draco answered, "But aren't you supposed to be at work now." He finished looking at his watch.

"Well I am doing my job, Draco. I was told yesterday that I had been assigned you to ensure you follow the rules and are looked after in the muggle world. I think they chose me because no one else could do it but I am actually quite happy to do this." Hermione answered, looking at her feet.

"Really? Well I am flattered, does this mean you'll be with me for the whole day when you're working or just, like, checking in on me?" Draco asked.

"Well it depends, I imagine for the first few weeks I'll be with you all day, introducing you to the muggle culture, but after that you might have a job and be busy, so we'll have to set up a time when we meet to discus how its going and stuff." Hermione answered, honestly.

"Ah right, shall we get to shopping then." Draco said, beginning to walk toward the shop with clothes in the window.

"Yeah, lets go." Hermione said, following along, struggling to catch up to walk beside him.

Within the first hour, they had picked out multiple T-shirts for Draco varying in colour, some plaid shirts, some formal shirts, some hoodies, two blazers and some waist coats (Draco had claimed 'I need to have nice clothes for formal occasions' when Hermione had rolled her eyes at the excess of smart attire). They were now heading into the summer section and ending up buying multiple pairs of shorts and a few vests, and they were now going to buy trousers.

In another 30 minutes they had chosen all of the trousers Draco could possibly need and went to pay.

"We should go find a shoe shop next" Hermione said as Draco struggled with all of his bags.

By lunch time they had done all of their shopping including groceries and Hermione dropped Draco off back at his flat, leaving him to put all of his clothes away and promising to be back the next day to help him look for a job or something.

After dumping the bags in the hall way, Draco took the food into the kitchen, putting it all away. He then had a go at making toast and a mug of coffee which, surprisingly to Draco, turned out ok.

He settled down on the sofa and, with many indescribable noises of frustration, tried to figure out how to use the TV on his own. The rest of the day continued in a similar fashion, where in, after getting bored with the gadget, he moved on to the next. By the time night had fallen he had figured out how to iron, use the computer and had set up the mobile phone Hermione had insisted on getting him that morning.

He went to bed fairly early, deciding it would be best to be up early, considering how early Hermione had come to get him today.

 **A/N: Let me know what you think :)**


	2. Chapter 2

As planned, Draco got up early and showered, although he spent more time trying to figure out what all of the dials did than actually showering.

By 7:30 he was in the kitchen making a coffee when there was a knock on his door.

"Good thing I got up early" Draco mumbled on his way to the door.

"Good morning, Draco." Hermione said, cheerfully, as Draco opened the door to let her in.

"Morning, do you want a coffee or something, kettle's just boiled?" He asked as they walked over to the counter.

"Yes please, I thought I might come early and help you make breakfast." Hermione spoke, putting her bag down on one of the stools and getting up to help.

"So, what're you going to teach me?" Draco asked, getting a mug out of the cupboard along with the ground coffee.

"How about an omelette, it's pretty easy and we bought some things that can go in them yesterday." Hermione answered, having looked in the fridge.

"Sounds great." Draco said, pouring hot water into the mug, "milk or sugar?" he asked, turning to look at Hermione.

"Black, one sugar, thank you." She answered, smiling slightly.

15 minutes later, Draco and Hermione had finished breakfast and were washing up the dishes.

"So, muggles have to do this every time they eat?" Draco asked, astonished, as they worked.

"Yeah, there's a lot of things you're going to have to get used to now you don't have magic to rely on." Hermione answered, drying the last plate and handing the towel to Draco to dry his hands.

"Couldn't you just do it every time you come check up on me?" Draco asked, putting the towel back through the handle on one of the cupboards.

"That's not really the point of your punishment, though. Anyway, you might want to go and get changed for what I have planned for today." She replied, heading back towards the living room to sit on the sofa.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Draco asked, looking down at his jeans and red t-shirt.

"Well I thought we'd start applying for jobs and for that you want to make a good impression or they may not hire you." Hermione replied.

Nodding his understanding, Draco headed back into his bedroom to choose a smarter outfit.

About 5 minutes later he came back wearing some formal trousers and a light grey shirt which he had tucked in.

"Hey, Hemione," Draco said, catching her attention, "Should I wear a blazer or just a jacket?"

"Um," Hermione replied, a little shocked by how well Draco was wearing those clothes, "a jacket will be fine." She finished, turning away to hide her slightly reddened cheeks.

Draco went back into his room and picked out a simple black jacket, grabbing his phone off the bedside table.

"So, how are we going to find these jobs?" Draco asked as he laced up his shoes in the hallway.

"I thought we'd take a walk into town and ask in coffee shops and restaurants if they need any staff." Hermione replied, already ready with her bag over her shoulder.

The pair spent 2 hours walking around to no avail. Nowhere had any signs in their windows and when they went into shops to ask they were met with the same answer, ("We're not looking for anyone right now.") and both were getting fed up and tired.

"Can we just call it a day, we could use that computer thingy to look later, right?" Draco suggested, dragging his feet to emphasise his disgruntlement.

"We could, but let's just finish this street, then we can head back. There's a tube station down there anyway. But if we're going to look for jobs online, I kind of need to know what sort of job you want, what did you want to do in the wizarding world before all of this happened?" Hermione replied.

"Well, I was always good at potions and enjoyed making them, and Severus wanted me to go into alchemy, but I didn't ever really want to go down that road, it sounded like a lot of work and is very different to the stuff we did in school, you see." Draco responded, thoughtfully.

"So, what did you think of doing?" Hermione prompted.

"Well, I guess I wanted to open a book shop-"

"I knew it, all of that time you teased me! I knew you were a bookworm yourself!" Hermione interrupted, a little too loudly.

"Alright, alright. But it's true. I want to work around books, please." Draco finished, continuing forward towards the underground sign. After a few paces, though, he noticed Hermione hadn't followed, "Hermione, are you coming or what?" He shouted back to her.

"Actually, Draco, I think we should go in here first," She replied, facing the door of another building.

Curious, Draco did as suggested and walked back to the building.

"So, what is it?"

"It's a library, come on." She answered, grabbing Draco's arm and pulling him inside.

The inside of the library was very cosy; painted in warm colours with lots of big arm chairs and small end tables in the middle of a room with walls lined with shelves. To the right of the main area, and straight in front of the door, was a desk with books and papers scattering the surface, a small circle left clear around the computer. To the right of the desk was what appeared to be the children's section: The walls were brightly coloured similar to the tiny furniture which sat atop a rug with the alphabet on it in an eye-catching design.

"Can I help you?" The young woman at the desk asked. She had short red hair and glasses and seemed to be struggling with something on the computer screen.

"Yes, I was just wondering if you have any jobs going, my friend here recently moved and really needs something to do all day." Hermione said, smiling.

"Well, I haven't been advertising but I could really do with an extra pair of hands now and again, especially when we do the children story sessions in the afternoon. Do you have your CV with you?" The woman asked, looking toward Draco.

"Oh, yeah." Draco said looking towards Hermione who was fumbling around in her bag to get it out.

"Here it is," Hermione said handing it to the woman.

"So, Draco, that's an unusual name-Latin for dragon right?" She said, looking at the document

"Yeah," Draco responded, nodding.

"So, it seems you're pretty well qualified from school, and you did well in English so that's good. Do you like reading?"

"Yeah, loads. If I don't get this job I'd just spend all day at home reading, there's just too much available to spend time doing anything else if you want to get through them all." Draco replied.

"Well so far everything seems good. I don't suppose you have a police record check, we need to see it before you can help with the kids." She explained.

"Actually, I did get one for you, Draco," Hermione said, handing the women another piece of paper.

"Well that's great, can I see some ID and then you've got the job." She said, smiling again.

Draco reached to his back pocket for his wallet, digging out his driving licence the ministry had given him.

"Awesome," She said handing it back, "Right well I'm Sam and I own the library, upstairs is the stock room and my flat. In the stock room there's a kettle and fridge so you can make drinks and things. Behind me is the toilet. We do sell books too as well as lend them so when you start I'll go through the procedure with you but it's pretty simple, someone comes to you with a book, you put the title into the computer, it tells you whether we have one in, if we do you go up and get it. And with the borrowing books you scan the book and the person's library card and stamp the inside cover." Sam explained, motioning to each thing as she explained it.

"That makes sense, so when do I start?" Draco asked.

"Can you start tomorrow, and be here for half 8 as we open at 9." Sam said, standing up.

"Tomorrow, half 8. Got it." Draco said as she walked around the desk and offered her hand for shaking.

"Great, I'll see you then Draco." Sam smiled as they shook hands.

Hermione and Draco then left the library and continued towards the tube station.

"Mission accomplished. Do you need any other help for the day or should I go back to my desk job?" Hermione said as they sat down on the tube.

"Well, I only know how to make toast, omelettes and coffee. So maybe you could come back and right me some instructions for the basic foods." Draco said.

"Sure."

When Hermione left at 3 that afternoon, she had left Draco with a list of how to make pasta, cook meats, cook rice, boil potatoes and mash them and had pointed out the cooking instructions on other foods and reminded him of how to use the oven.

So, that evening, Draco successfully made himself chicken with pasta in a red sauce with only a few swears along the way. After eating and washing up, he sat down on the sofa and turned on the TV. After much deliberation, he decided to put on the news on to learn a little about the muggle world although, after 10 minutes he had switched over to some panel show with comedians on it.

At 10 pm, he switched of the TV and headed into his bedroom to get an early night. While dressing in his plaid pj bottoms and plain t-shirt, he looked at his clothes trying to decide what to wear to work for his first day. Eventually, after 10 minutes of deliberation, he went for a red and blue checked long sleeved shirt with a grey waistcoat and dark jeans. After hanging his chosen outfit on the cupboard door, he went to bed to get some sleep before his first day of work in his life.

 **A/N: Here's the next chapter, I hope to update at least once a week. Let me know what you thought,**


	3. Chapter 3

Similar to the day before, Draco awoke early, his stomach a mock with butterflies. He went through to the kitchen to cook breakfast, deciding to celebrate his first day with pancakes.

He was about to flip his final pancake when the phone Hermione had bought him buzzed, startling him and causing the pancake to drop to the floor.

"Shit," Draco muttered, crouching to pick up the ruined mess on the floor.

After cleaning, he went to read the message, smiling, he realised it was from Hermione.

 _Have a great first day :), I'd say call me later but I had to climb up the astronomy tower just to be able to send this text. HG._

Draco read the message, sitting down at the counter to eat the rest of his breakfast, he typed out his reply.

 _Thank you, and no worries. I can send you a message when I get in at around 6 but you don't need to respond. Have a great day, DM._

He hit send before placing his dirty plate in the sink and going to shower and get ready.

When he emerged half an hour later, he was surprised to find another message on his phone.

 _I'll go up the tower for 6 then. Don't be late. HG._

Draco smiled before noticing the time and ran to find his shoes, jacket and wallet getting half way out the door before remembering his phone and the paper on which he had written the name of the tube station down the road from the library.

…

"Morning," Draco said cheerfully as he entered the warmly lit building.

"Good morning," Sam responded, looking up from the computer, "As you're early, you wouldn't mind going upstairs and making us both a coffee, would you?" She asked, holding out her mug.

"Sure, how'd you take it?" Draco asked moving to get the mug.

"Black, 1 sugar, thanks. Oh, and you can dump your stuff up there too." She answered, already turning back to the screen.

Draco headed back down the stairs a few minutes later with two steaming cups of coffee.

"Thanks, Draco. If you give me 2 secs I'll show you around and give you your tasks for the day." Sam said when Draco offered her the Doctor Who mug full of coffee.

"Ok," Draco replied, walking over to one of the arm chairs in the corner to wait.

"Right," Sam exclaimed 5 minutes later, startling Draco so much he nearly spilt his drink. She stood and headed over to Draco who got up as well.

"Over here are the fiction books, arranged in A-Z by author, we also have a shelf in that corner," Sam said, pointing to the shelf in question, "which is our recommendations, so if you read any books you think are really good let me know and I'll put a copy on that shelf. Then on that side of the room is the non-fiction section and on the other side of the desk the children's section. Today, I'll need you to be on the front desk with me as I have accounts to do, I'll also need some help with the kids session later on. On other days I'll need you to help customers and be on the front desk when I need to stock check. Got it?" Sam finished as they stopped walking back at the front desk.

"Yup, today-Front desk, children's session. Got it." Draco answered, confidently.

"Great. I'll move onto the computer at the side desk so that you are centre stage, so to speak." Sam said, looking at her watch, "And would you look at that, its show time, could you turn the sign?" Sam said before going back to the second computer on the far side of the desk.

"Sure," he said, going to turn the sign.

...

"Have you got your card?" Draco asked the customer, politely. The elderly gentleman handed him the white piece of plastic.

"Thank you," Draco said as he swiped the book, "So this is a series of books then?" Draco asked the man as he handed the books over.

"Yes, they're very good. You should consider reading them," The old man responded in a low yet comforting voice.

"I will, here's your card, don't forget, they're due back in 2 weeks but you can always renew them if you need more time." Draco said with a smile.

"Thank you, you seem a very lovely young man, are you new here?"

"First day, actually."

"Well you're doing a great job. Have a nice day." The man responded turning towards the door.

"You too." Draco said as the man closed the door.

"You're good at that." Sam commented, pushing her chair away from the desk with a sigh, "I swear, if I have to look at anymore numbers today I'm going to have a breakdown. Anyway it's about lunch time now, and as you're new in town I thought I could show you this nice sandwich shop I know, down the road." Sam finished.

"Sounds great, I'll go grab my coat." Draco said, standing up and heading round the other side of the desk.

"Could you get mine too, it's on the coat hook next to the door." Sam shouted after him and he nodded before disappearing up the stairs.

…

"So, that woman you were with yesterday," Sam began and Draco interjected.

"Hermione, what about her?"

"How'd you know her?"

"Well we went to school together. Though we were never really close, in fact we were enemies really," At Sam's confused face he explained, "Well, my dad was very… controlling and overbearing, he wanted me to be friends with the right people. He considered Hermione and her family as the wrong sort and her best friend was someone who I had offered my friendship to and had been rejected. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was very cruel to her like my father wanted, then a short while ago he and his friends were caught doing some… dodgy things and got put in prison, so I was able to break free, essentially, and, reaching out to apologise, we stumbled into a kind of friendship." Draco finished, looking up to see Sam nodding.

"I see. She said you were new here, how come?" Sam asked, continuing the conversation.

"Well, my parents lived in Shropshire, so when my father was sent away and my mother had died, I came here, open spaces leave too much room to think, I needed to be somewhere crowded, busy, London." Draco answered as a waiter made their way to their table,

"What can I get you both?" He asked.

"2 club sandwiches, please." Sam said, ordering for them both which Draco was thankful for as he didn't have a clue what to get.

"Any more drinks?"

"No thank you, we're fine," Sam answered with a smile before the waiter walked away.

"Anyway, what's your story?" Draco asked, keen to get the conversation away from his past.

"Well, I bought the shop a couple of years ago because I didn't like having a boss and I loved books. It's been quite straight forward after that, I've hired a few people to do the same sort of thing you are doing but none of them really wanted to be there unlike you, they just didn't have a good attitude with the customers, weren't interested in the books and couldn't honestly advise anyone."

"I was asking more about you, but I guess I hope I can be much better than them." Draco responded, mentally taking notes on what not to do.

"I'm sure you won't Draco, you like to read that's all a customer really wants in a book shop employee, and more importantly it's all I want. And as for my life, my dad left when I was young and I didn't hear from him again, he still paid my mum money of course, he just never wanted to see me. It's that money I used to fund the shop, actually, my mum put the money away for me so I could use it when I was older. I have a close relationship with my mum, but she lives quite a few hours away so I don't get to see her very often."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Draco said just as the waiter came back with their food.

They ate in silence for a while until Sam asked, "So, how's your dating life? Hermione just a friend?" She asked, grinning as Draco looked down, embarrassed.

"She's just a friend. And there hasn't been anyone since my fifth year at Ho- school." Draco caught himself just in time.

"Fifth year?" Sam asked quizzically, "What, did you go to a private school or something?"

"A boarding school, it was quite traditional, in a castle in Scotland." Draco replied, covering up his slip up, "Anyway, how about you, dating anyone?"

"I have a girlfriend actually," Sam paused, reading Draco's face for any reaction but there was none, "She's a teacher at the local primary school, sometimes she asks me to go in and do activities about reading with kids- I did a short training course on working with children. In fact I was thinking about sending you on it, let you play a bigger role in the children's sessions and come help me if I get asked back, you know?"

"Sounds great, I always wanted to work with kids, it was always there in the back of my mind, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it, we'd better head back in a sec, I'll just go pay."

"Let me give you some money." Draco said as she got up to leave.

"No, it's ok, you can go out for coffee someday to pay me back, and I haven't paid you yet so."

…

The children's session that afternoon was a great success, and Draco enjoyed it immensely, he stayed until about 5:30 when the customers began to dribble out and they were left alone in the shop.

"You get going now, Draco. I can manage a customer or two on my own." Sam said, when she noticed Draco looking up at the clock regularly, anxious to get home before 6 to text Hermione as he had promised.

"Are you sure?" At her nod he continued, "Thanks a lot I'll see you tomorrow." Draco said, running up the stairs to get his jacket and bag before bulleting out of the door and to the train station.

…

 _My first day was great! Sam is really nice, and we even went out to lunch together. She said I was really good with the customers. I loved the story time with the kids, it was super fun. Anyway, how was your day, what lessons did you have, how much homework did they give you (yawn)? DM_

 _My day was good too, I had Arithmancy, Charms, Transfiguration and I just got back from DADA. I didn't get too much homework, just one essay for charms, some practicing in transfiguration and DADA and some worksheets to complete for arithmancy. I'm glad to hear you had a great day, but it does sound a little like she was making a pass at you, I may be wrong I'm just warning you relationships at work are risky. Me and Ron didn't even work in the same department and I was only there for 2 days a week and we still found it hard to work together as well as build a relationship so I ended it with him, so you be careful. HG._

 _Good thing you didn't get too much work then. You did stop off for dinner first before going up the tower? I wouldn't want to be the reason you're skipping meals. As for Sam, I feared that at first too but she has a girlfriend, and it was a good lunch, we got to know each other more which made it easy to talk when there weren't any customers that afternoon. I'm sorry to hear about what happened between you and Weaslebee but I never thought you 2 would work out anyway, you're way too good for him and you could never have a very intellectual conversation with him, could you? Sam is also thinking of sending me on a course about working with kids so I can take on a more leading role in the sessions, which I'm looking forward to. DM_

 _McGonagall gave me my own suite like the head girl and boy's so I have my own kitchen, Kreacher also works in the kitchens and he is always happy to help me out whenever I stay too long studying and miss a meal. That's great about you and Sam, its good that you are making a friend in the muggle world, it'll be good for you yourself and will really help your case. Thank you, but there aren't many people who are as clever as me, in fact I can only think of you. And that's great about the course, it means she's really invested in you as an employee and wants to keep you around so well done, you did well. I'm going to go back in a minute, it's cold out here and I am getting a little hungry come to think about it. HG_

 _That was nice of McGonagall! I'll let you go now anyhow, have a good evening and sleep well. Goodnight, Hermione. DM_

 _Goodnight, Draco. Ginny has quidditch practise tomorrow and I said I'd go and watch so I won't be able to talk to you tomorrow evening. So have a good day and I'll speak to you soon. Night. HG_

 **A/N: Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think :)**

 **till next time,**


	4. Chapter 4

**_A/N: So, I'm putting the note at the top because there is a pretty big structural change which I'm trying out - it's in first person and Draco's point of view. The bits in italic are his thoughts to himself. Please, let me know what you think of the change and if it works or not. Also sorry about the late update I'll try to be more frequent again now :)_**

 _I'm starting to think that in the first few days of muggle life I was blinded by ignorance and the need for education, but now I'm beginning to get to grips with this whole no magic lark I'm starting to see how terrible some muggle people really are. They're just rude, as I noticed on the tube this morning, they all only care about themselves, shoving everyone else out, literally. Quite frankly, I understand why us wizards eradicated them from our community. I really don't want to spend five years as a muggle with only Hermione Granger of all people to talk to, I'm trying to be impartial and act friendly but it's kind of hard to keep up a façade when she does the same annoying things she did in school. I've moved on from the muggle born hating child I was, but I'm not going to suddenly like annoying people. I guess I'm going to have to try, after all it could still be my own self imposed judgements of her that I haven't quite shaken off. Perhaps after I do, she won't seem as annoying. I will need to find other friends though, I'll go insane if, for the next 5 years, I only go out to work or buy food. Thinking of work, I should probably go._

As I walked through the door to the book shop I was greeted by the sight of Sam chatting to some girl.

"Oh, Hi Draco. This is Ellie my girlfriend who I mentioned yesterday, Ellie-Draco, Draco-Ellie." Sam said to me, with a smile as she gestured between me and Ellie in introduction.

"Nice to meet you." I said back with a smile, "Sam, where do you want me today?" I asked, taking off my jacket.

"Well, actually, I was wondering if you feel ready to run the shop on your own for the day, the school had some children's author coming in for the kids but they've fallen ill so I've been called on to help out. Would you mind?" Sam answered, smiling apologetically at me as though it was a big ask.

"Not at all. Do you need anything else doing or is it just the desk duty?" I asked back, walking over to the stair well.

"Just that and the story time if I'm not back by then."

"No problem then." I said as I headed up the stairs to discard my stuff and grab a coffee.

I came back down a few minutes later to find only Ellie was there.

"Hey, Draco, we're about to go now, but us and a few mates are going out for a drink tonight, I just wondered if you might like to join us, Sam mentioned you were new in town and I feel I owe you for throwing you in at the deep end on your first day." Ellie said, leaning on the desk.

"That's ok, really, I don't mind. And sure, I'll come. Sam told you right, I don't really know anyone around here." I said smiling at the end.

"Great, we can meet you back here at 7 and walk together, I'm not sure you'd know where to go if we left you to your own devices." Ellie answered, moving from the desk and towards the door as Sam had reappeared, ready to go.

"Yeah, I have absolutely no clue where anything is so that'd be helpful. See you guys later." I said, waving as they left the shop. I placed my coffee down on the desk and then went to turn over the sign.

The day was uneventful. I served some customers and tidied up the childrens section for the session which was about to start. I had received a text from Sam telling me what story to read and how to go about it which was reassuring as I didn't quite know what was expected of me.

10 minutes before the session a woman walked through the door followed by a small child.

"Good afternoon." I said smiling brightly at the woman and waving at the boy.

"Hello, we're here for the story." She spoke kindly.

"Great, we should be starting soon, you could take a look at the other books or just take a seat, either is fine." I replied and she nodded in response, guiding the boy over to the rug in the childrens' section.

Other customers arrived after her and I headed over to greet them, picking off the book Sam had mentioned.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Draco and I'll be stepping in for Sam today." I began, taking a seat in the chair at the head of the circle the children had formed, their parents sat behind them.

"That's a funny name." A boy said, the boy who came in first I noticed.

"Yes, it is. But did you know it actually means dragon in Latin?" I said back, kindly smiling at the boy when the other kids gasped.

"That's so cool." One girl said.

"Yes, it is, now who wants to know what book we're going to be reading today?" I said, opening up to the first page and proceeding to read the story.

…

The story had gone well and some of the parents even bought the book that I had read so I guess I must've done a good job. By 3:30 though all of the kids and parents had left and I settled back down at my desk preparing for the next couple of hours before I could go home.

Those hours were not very eventful, with only a few customers passing through and not much in sales, but it was finally 5:30 and I could close up. After gathering up my things and turning the sign, I left the shop. Sam had got back half an hour ago but had asked if I could finish up as she had some admin to finish before we went out tonight.

I had a fairly unpleasant tube ride home, standing the whole way and being pushed and shoved on the platform for good measure but then again, it happens to evryone in this world so I'm just going to have to stop moaning.

When I finally got back to my apartment, I made myself a coffee and sat down to check my phone and noticed I had a missed call from Hermione, I tried calling back but there was no answer so I set my phone back down.

 _Whatever it was I'm sure it can wait until Monday when she's contracted to come and talk to me._

After finishing my coffee, I decided to go and look in my post box to waste some time.

Surprisingly, there was 2 letters in it, one from the Ministry telling me about my sentence and what Hermione's role was and how I could complain about any problems in the flat. And the other was from a bank informing me about my monthly statement, which made absolutely no sense to me.

Deciding to begin a list of things to ask Hermione on Monday, and putting bank statement at the top, I went to get ready for my night out.

I went for a casual look, replacing my button up with a plain red t-shirt and some jeans with my jacket and some-I think Hermione said- Converse shoes. So at 6:40 I was ready to brave the underground yet again, to get back to the book shop.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey, Draco" Sam said as I approached the bookshop, she was already outside. Poking her head around the door she said to Ellie who was still inside, "He's here, lets go."

A minute or two later, she came through the door, locking it.

We headed of down the street in the summer evening sunshine, the light causing an orange glow to form on the horison, it was almost peaceful, the traffic having died out here on the outskirts after rush hour.

After a 10-minute walk, we entered a dingy looking building called the Fox and Hounds.

"Why is it called that?" I asked Ellie as Sam went to the bar to get us some drinks.

"I dunno, a lot of pubs have that name I guess, there's only so many things you could name them."

"Right," I said as we sat at a table which was slightly sticky. We had chosen a table by the window to give some escape from the darkness inside.

"When are your friends getting here?" I asked, trying to continue the conversation.

"They should be here in 5 minutes or so, we were a bit early. They're a couple of my colleagues from work, nice guys, helped me out when I first started."

"They sound great. I hope they don't mind me being here, I really need to make some friends other than Hermione in this place." I say, the prospect of a lonely 5 years had been looming over me like a grey cloud, since I'd received my sentence.

"One pint, Draco." Sam said, placing a glass, filled with a liquid a similar colour to butter beer, down in front of me.

"Cheers," I say back, taking a sip from the glass. It was surprisingly ok, not as sweet as butter beer was, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

We chatted for a while until Sam stood up, waving at two people who were headed to the bar. It was a man and a woman who looked about 25, I suddenly felt rather young, being only 19 myself (They had kept me in the ministry holding cells for months after the end of the battle to reorganise everything before starting on trials). The man was about my height, brown haired with neatly trimmed stubble covering his jaw and cheeks, his hair was styled to look messy, something I had never quite understood myself, and he wore a checked, shortsleeved shirt and jeans. The woman was slightly shorter than him and had medium length aubern hair, tied back. She wore jeans and a top of some sort which I couldn't quite make out from where I sat.

At Sam's wave, the man turned around and headed to our table, the woman obviously staying to get the drinks.

"Hey Rich, this is Draco my new helper in the shop, he's new in town and I throught he could do with getting out and meeting some people." Sam said, after she had half hugged him, sitting back down.

"Hi, Draco, good to meet you." He said offering his hand out to me as I stood to shake it.

He took a seat next to me and the conversation picked up again before the woman came over with two drinks.

"Hey, everyone. Who's this, then?" She said, placing the drinks down and taking a seat at the head of the table.

"Draco," I said, reaching my hand across the table.

"Nice to meet you Draco, I'm Olivia." She said, shaking my hand.

The conversation flowed quite freely after that. Sam told me all about what had appened at the school that day and everyone took it in turns to share horror stories of what some of the children had done. Then they moved on to asking me about why I had moved and what I had done before, luckily, I didn't make any slip ups. After the third round, which I had bought, things got much more trivial, however, and I gained many film and TV recommendations which I made a mental note to check out that weekend.

We called it a night at around 9:30 and Sam and Ellie walked me back to the bookshop, where I made my way back home again.

When I got back in I made myself some water, remembering what it was like that one night when I didn't after polishing off an entire bottle of firewhiskey in 6th year, and went to sit down infront of the TV- I didn't have to get up early after all.

I caught the end of the news and decided to add a couple more things to my list, noticing my phone lighting up from a new message. I glanced at it as I scribbled down my queries about the government and found it was from Hermione:

 _Hey, Draco. Sorry I missed your call back, I tried again but you must've been busy. I was just checking that if I drop in for 5PM on Monday you'll be home. I forgot to ask the other day, woops. Anyway, have a nice evening and I hope to see you Monday afternoon, HG._

I read the message deciding to text Sam and ask if I could leave early as soon as possible to allow her to be prepared and to give me enough time to rearange with Hermione. First choosing to respond to Hermione,

 _Hi, yeah, sorry about missing those calls, I figured it could wait until Monday, in fact I have made a list of things to ask you. I will message Sam about leaving a bit early on Monday but for now assume I will be here for five. I'll let you know if otherwise. See you then, have a nice weekend. DM._

I sent the message, then finding Sam's contact to type my next request.

 _Hi, sorry for messaging so late, I have a meeting on Monday which is earlier than I expected so would it be ok if I left at 16:30 to allow me time to get there for 5. Thanks, Draco._

I sent the message, turning off my phone and heading to bed.

 **A/N Sorry for the late and short update but I figured it was a good place to cut it off. Follow and Review?**


End file.
